Selvage for rayon fabrics



G. F. WGMELE SELVAGE FOR RAYbN FABRICS May 14, 194*".

Filed Aug. 2, 1944 l'mventor GLENN E WOMBLE a f Gttpmeg can-01V RlW/V rayon fabric to tear.

Patented May 14 I946 sELv'sGn FOR BAYON FABRICS 7 Glenn F. -Womble, Danville, Van, asslgnor to Riverside & Dan River Cotton Mills, Incorporated, a corporation of Virginia Application August 2, 1944 Serial No. 547,815- 3 Claims, (Cl. 139-426) In the wet processing of rayon fabrics, such as for example, the usual dyeing or finishing treat-- ments applied'to such fabrics, there is encountered the problem of tearing of the fabric because of its inherent weakness when wet. It is particularly characteristic of the rayon fabrics, as con? trasted with the fabrics of natural fibers, such as cotton, linen and wool, to decrease substantially in tensile strength when these rayon fibers or filaments are wet. And when the wet rayon fabrics are subjected to tension or other stresses in processing such as the conventional boiling out and dyeing operations on a jig and in finishins operations carried out on the open width of the fabric, there is a common tendency for the The tear usually begins at the selvage edge, and once the break or tear has started in the fabric it will continue even more easily and result in a damaged product.

.Oftentimes this necessitates shutting down the manufacturing operation, thereby losing valuable time and expensive chemicals, until the torn fabric can be mended.

This problem applies especially to operations in which the rayon fabric is processed in the open overcoming this problem thathas proven very bothersome in the commercial processing of rayon fabrics. I have found that'if some of the rayon threads, commonlycalled ends," in the selvage edge of the rayon fabric are substituted by cotton threads, even though of similar size, the.

strength of the selvage edge is markedly increased and thereby effectively prevents tearing of the selvage edge and the rayon fabric during the wet processing treatment. In this selvage construction I have put into practical use the property of the cotton threads of not weakening when wet.-v

and,. on the contrary, of actually ybecoming stronger when wet than when dry. when rayon is wet with water it loses about half of its dry strength. In contradlstinction, cotton when wet with water substantially increases in strength,

I such as for example 15% in a typic case. Fur-' thermore, if it is so desired, all of the rayon threads in the selvage edge may be substituted by the cotton threads or fibers; or blends or twists of rayon and cotton threads or fibers may be used. In actual commercial practice, a substitution of about 15% to 30% of the rayon threads by cotton threads in the salvage has given very satisfactory results.

Different forms of fabric embodying my invention and in the construction and use of which the objects herein set out, as well as others, may be attained, are illustrated in the accompanying drawing. in whichp Fig. 1 is a face view of a piece of fabric embodying my invention.

its. 2 is an end view of the fabric shown in Fig. 1.

Figs. 3 and 4 are end views showing different forms of the invention.

In each of the several rayon fabric I0 is shown having a selvage edge II in which certain of the rayon threads have been replaced by cotton threads I2, other rayon warp threads being shown at 13 and weft threads at It. These figures are merely illustrative of various forms of selvage arrangement embodying the present invention.

In an illustrative but non-limiting example of a rayon fabric, the selvage edge will contain from about 12 to 24 warp threads; and these warp threads are usually of two-ply yarn. Ina typical, specific case of this type, I have substituted 4 of the warp ends, normally rayon threads, by 4 cotton warp threads and have so increased the strength of the selvage that the problem of tear- 80 lo when wet is substantially completely eliminated. In other illustrative commercial examples, the number of cotton warp ends may be reduced to two ends, and, on the other hand, may be increased .to 6 or 8 cotton warp ends, or, as

above suggested, may replace the entire 12 to 2d warp ends or'rayon threads normally used in the salvage, as varying processing conditions may require.

For a further and more detailed understanding of my present invention, the following illustrative but non-limiting example of the adaptation of my improvement to a commercial operation is'given.

A viscose rayon fabric is woven in the conventional manner except the selvage is inlaid with do 4 ends .of two-ply cotton yarn replacing four of the 2; ends of two-ply viscose yarn in the selvage. In this specific combination the cotton ends and the viscose ends are so blended that they are substantially indistinguishable in the salvage edge so and the selvage appears to be exactly the same as though all viscose yarn were used.

Nowthis rayon fabricwith the viscose-cotton warp selvage is desize'd, "boiled out, and prepared for dyeing in open width on s linger, and then Id drledonatrameanddyedonacontlnuousdyeing' figures of the drawing a machine such as normally used in the continuous dyeing of cotton fabrics with vat colors. In these operations the fabric is subjected to considerable tensile stresses and is very subject to tearing or breaking if the selvage is not reinforced properly as is done in my invention.

The terin rayon as used herein is used in a generic sense to identify broadly the substitute silks which have the above described tendency of weakening and tearing when wet. These substitute silks include the so-called acetate silks which consist of acetic esters of cellulose; and the euprammonium, nitrocellulose and viscose rayon silks which belong to the class of regenerated cellulose products, the most common commercial example of which is viscose rayon; and the other synthetic fibers or filaments that weaken when wet; or are inherently weak.

Instead of using cotton threads for the strengthening elements in the selvage edge as described above, other similar and suitable threads or fibers may be used, including linen, jute, hemp, ramie; and some' of the synthetic fibers which do not weakentwhen wet, such as "Saran and Vinyonfl These natural and synthetic fibers are defined generically in the claims herein as reinforcing fiber."

Various modifications and changes may he made in the above described materials, constructions to become weakened when they are wet, and a selvage edge including at least two and not more than twenty-four warp threads of a reinforcing fiber that does not become weakened when it is wet and serves to strengthen said textile fabric during wet processing.

2. A textile fabric according to claim the reinforcing fiber is-a natural cellulose fiber.

3. A textile fabric according to claim 1 in which A the reinforcing fiber is cotton.

GLENN F. WOMBLE.

1 in which" 

